January 02 - Compassion

We are 43 and a half hours into 2011. I am feeling somewhat better today, but I still have the nasty cough that greeted me on Friday. The message this morning at church was a very powerful one, spoken with clarity and love. This blog post, however, will not touch on the message my heart heard this morning. I hope you can get your push-up, sit-up, and 1 minute run in today. If this is your first read, you can always start up tomorrow.

Do you ever watch the abused animal commercials that they show on TV? In all honesty, I can't watch them anymore. The clips they show are heartbreaking and pitiful. To think that someone could do harm to an 8 pound cat or to neglect a small dog is hard to understand. My wife will tell you, if one of those commercials appears on the TV, I immediately go outside and spend a few minutes with our dogs. I'll also comment to our cats and say something along the lines of, "Fitz, you know I will never hurt you" or "Rhea, I will always be here for you".

Why does our heart not break for the humans around us like that? I believe if they showed some advertisements of our friends or even our family members who are lost, sitting on a boat in a lake of fire, we would have a strong desire to rescue them. We often times assume that someone has already attempted to share the message of salvation through Christ. If they didn't accept it then, they probably won't accept it now. That's a very dangerous state of thinking.

In Romans 1:16, Paul states, "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile". What is the power of God? The gospel. The good news. Why am I so secretive about the gospel? I am supposed to take it to the streets, to the mall, to my workplace, even to other counties and countries. First of all, if I am not in the pages everyday along with prayer with God, it will be hard for me to share what's in the Word. It's kinda like me stepping into a classroom on Tuesday and teaching a history lesson on the Great Depression. I could make it about 3 or 4 minutes talking about the Great Depression, but if I don't review or study up on the events leading up to it and more details of the event itself, my lesson stops there. Secondly, if I am equipped with the head and heart knowledge of the good news, it could be that I am embarrassed or too lazy to present it to those around me. If that's the case, I need to make attempts to be more like Paul...

Also, the salvation that is offered to us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ isn't meant for a certain percentage of people. Actually, I take that back, it is. It is meant for 100% of the people on earth. It is available for every single person who believes. That goes for the homeless, the jobless, the def, the blind,  the rich, and the average human being. I need to stop assuming that everyone is okay, because they're not. I need to stop thinking about what someone will think, because it doesn't matter. There is work to be done...